Joseph teippett



(No Model.)

J. TRIPPETT & T. & H. SEARLS.

BUFFER. I

Patented Oct. 13, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH TRIPPETT, THOMAS SEARLS, AND HENRY SEAR-LS, OF SHEFFIELD, COUNTY OF YORK, ENGLAND.

BUFFER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 328,085, dated October 13, 1885.

Application filed July 14, 1885. Serial No. 171 596. (No model.) Patented in England July .2, 1884, No. 9,713.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, Josnrn TRIPPETT, THOMAS SEARLS, and HENRY SEARLs, citizens of Great Britain, residing at Sheffield, in the county of York, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Construction of Buffers for Railway and Tramway Vehicles, (for which wehave obtained a patent in Great Britain, No. 9,713, bearing date July 2, 1884,) of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in buffers,in the construction of which double boxes, plungers, and springs are used; and the objects of our improvements are, first, to

construct a buffer or buffers which shall combine strength, and lightness, and simplicity of construction; second, to construct a buffer or buffers which will be better adapted than buffers ordinarily in use to sustain the varying strains to which they are liable when the vehicles to which they are attached are coupled to other vehicles passing round curves or from other causes; third, the construction of a buffer or buffers, by which the machine labor such as turning, boring,and drilling-may be considerably reduced, if not entirely dispensed with, and the several parts of which do not require skilled labor in fitting together ready for use.

We attain these objects by the arrangement illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of the buffer ready for use. Fig. 2 is a section of the same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation. Fig. 4 is a front elevation. Fig. 5 is a section through the line A B of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a back elevation.

Similarletters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

a is the double box.

I) b are the plungers, connected together by the head 0 and the web or stay d.

e 6 represent the springs.

ff are the bolts, which may be cast or otherwise secured in the plungers.

g g are two washers, which are screwed'or otherwise fastened onto the bolts f f.

h is the cover fittedinto a recess in the baseplate, which may have the bolt-holes cast or otherwise formed therein.

The manner in which the buffer herein described is manufactured and put together is as follows: The box a is molded from a metallic pattern which has been bored out and otherwise prepared so as to draw easily out of the sand and leave its own cores. The holes j, by which the base is bolted to the frame of the vehicle, may also be cast. The plungerbolts, having been previously screwed for the nuts and for the washers g g, and likewise having been notched or otherwise formed at the plunger end, are placed in the sand, and the head and plungers are cast onto or around them. The bolts may thus be firmly secured to the plungers and the head without any other mode of fastening being required. The washers and cover-plate to the base may likewise be made of cast metal. The springs, which may be either helical, volute, or other convenient form, may be made in steel suitably tempered; or india rubber springs may be used.

WVith the exception of the bolt-s, nuts, and springs, all the parts herein described may be made in cast metal, (by preference steel would be employed,) and when the parts so cast have been fettled and annealed they may be put together as follows:

The head, with two plungers and bolts, is first inserted into the plunger guides or sockets. The two washers, which serve to increase the bearing-surface between the plunger end and the springs, each of which has two or more holes drilled or otherwise formed to receive a spanner or wrench, are then slipped over the bolts and screwed by a specially-formed spanner or wrench onto the screwed portion. of the bolt next the plunger ends, against which they are tightly fixed. The two springs are then passed over the bolts. The cover-plateis then placed in the openings in the base. The nuts are then screwed onto the bolts, and may be retained in position by split pins, checknuts, or other equivalent means. The buffers are then ready for use.

\Vhen bolted to the buffer-plank of an engine, wagon, or other vehicle, suitable holes would be bored or otherwise formed in the buffer-plank, in which or through which the nuts and bolts would pass when the buffer was in compression.

The ribbed foot-plate, as shown in the draw ings, may be either cast on the box or be cast separately, and afterward fixed to the box by screws or other equivalent means.

As a modification or further development of our invention, a buffer or buffers may be c0nstructed as herein described, having three, four, or more sets of Working parts arranged in one group, under one head, and with one base, thus forming a triple, quadruple, or manifold buffer, which will be applicable for use on stop-blocks in railway-stations, terminus of sidings, and the like purposes.

Having fully described our invention, What 

